Air Transport News
Page 50
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TERMINAL SERVICE BY AUTOGYRO..
In our issue dated April 6 we published two drawings, prepared by our artist, to illustrate the idea of using gyroplanes to link outlying aerodromes wth town centres. London, for example, is linked by congested motor routes with its aerodromes at Croydon, Heston, Hatfield, Abridge, Gravesend, etc. The advantage of a gyroplane is that its lift is obtained from rotating aerofoils, and not from a fixed plane which relies entirely upon forward movement to get its upward pressure. The ,gyroplane can, therefore, land and take off from very small aerodromes, even from the fiat roof of a large building.
This week the Post Office has experimented in the use of a Cierva Autogiro to carry mails between the big Post Office building at Mount Pleasant (opposite these offices) and. Croydon Airport, whence main-line aeroplanes carry mails to and from Belfast, Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, and all
the European centres. The experiment was,-perhaps, not a very safe one, with technical development at its present stage, but, as we pointed out on April 6, given proper equipment, the idea has considerable possibilities. The journey to Croydon, for instance, is reduced from one hour to about 10 minutes:
International Air Traffic Conference.
The 32nd meeting of the International Air Traffic Association was held at The Hague on Aug-est 28-29. Road-transport men will be interested to hear that one of the chief problems discussed was that of eliminating reservation clauses from third-party insurance certificates.
Obviously, people must be safeguarded against damage from aircraft, irrespective of whether any one aircraft conforms with regulations in regard to the pay-load, documents, etc. In international flying, a machine that has caused damage to a third party may be seized until the matter has been settled. If an unreserved certificate can be given, the seizure rule may be lifted.
Another important matter discussed was that of salvage by, and assistance to, aircraft. Salvage laws somewhat similar to the marine laws are to be drafted.
The Conference decided in favour of a new form of passenger ticket, which includes a baggage check. This matter, again, is one that has been considered by coach operators. Also the conference decided to take up with the national governments the question of omitting passengers' names from passenger lists and details of goods from manifests. Ships' documents, of course, B36 contain these details, but international trains carry no such detailed documents.
A Croydon Service Development.
Rollason Aircraft Services informs us that its maintenance shops at Croydon Airport will henceforth be open day and night, and the telephone number, Fairfield 6676, will always give communication with a fully equipped servicing organization. Mr. W. A. Rollason has recently sold three Dragons, also another Leopard Moth to Mr. Graham McKinnon of Lloyd's Under, writers. The charter ..companies at Croydon are so busy these days that the Rollason shops are kept fully occupied.
London-Plymouth: Record Week.
Provincial Airways, Ltd., announces that traffic on its London-Plymouth regular air service reached a record level for the week ended September 1. Further study of returns from this route confirms that the traffic is not mainly of the holiday class. There is a growing number of retired people in West Devon and Cornwall, making frequent use of the service. In the early days this line was not very promising, but it now shows signs of consolidation.
Big Newspaper Loads to Paris.
Commercial Air Hire, Ltd., which, from its base at Croydon Airport, charters machines to the trade, has been very busy in the week with the morning newspaper loads to Paris. The autumnal weather is making this work rather more difficult. In the week to September 1 the company carried payloads amounting to 10,000 lb., and flew 9,400 aeroplane-miles. This company now has two Dragons fully equipped with wireless telephony and navigation lights, also one Fox Moth, and it has the use of a Leopard Moth, A piece of news which, while not relating to our internal air services, is sure to interest readers concerns the catapult air-mail service operated in conjunction with the German Atlantic ships, "Bremen" and "Europa." At midnight on August 29-30 the seaplane on the east-bound " Bremen " was catapulted off when the ship was 776 nautical miles west of Southampton. With a following wind it reached Southampton at 6.30 a.m., left at 7.54 a.m. and arrived at Bremerhaven at 11.30 a.m. On the way the aeroplane circled over Amsterdam Airport (Schiphol) and dropped a 95-lb. mail bag. The mails therein were sorted and left by the noon air services to Hanover, Hamburg, Bremen, Berlin, Cologne and Frankfurt, where business people received their letters at 6 p.m. on Thursday. Had they been carried on by the " Bremen " they 'would have been delivered on Monday morning.
Britain's Wireless Stations.
The new Ards Airport at Newtownards, Belfast, was opened on August 31. It is one of the first eight civil aeronautical ground radio stations in the British Isles. The other seven are Croydon, Lympne, Pulham, Manchester, Hull, Renfrew, and Portsmouth. Britain has more than 50 civil aerodromes now in use.
Norman Edgar Carries the Mail.
Norman Edgar Western Airways, Ltd., has now secured a sub-contract from Railway Air Services, Ltd., to carry Post Office mails between Bristol and Cardiff. Mr. Norman Edgar has developed his Cardiff-Bristol-Bournemouth service independently, yet in friendly co-operation with the railways, railway-associated and independent road-transport companies, and Railway Air Services, Ltd.